Sharp County record., 1887-07-14
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
The Importance Of Little Things
Ably Demonstrated.
Great Results That Como Abo-1 in Our
Lives Through Apparently Inslgnih-
cant Incidents-The Unknown He
roes and Heroines of the World.

annual pilgrimage on Jne Su lnoU', W
Martha's Vineyard, Mass, and on the
Sabbath Mr.. Talmage preached to them
and thousands of others in the great
camp-meeting tabernacle. His text was:
Tbrouph window, in basket, 1 was let
down BY the wall.-II Cor. XII, 80.
Ha said: Sermons on Paul in Jail, Paul
on Mars Hill, Paul in the shipwreck, Paul
hefore the Sanhedrim, Paul before Felix
are nlentiful, but in my text we have
Paul in basket
Damascu is a city of white and glisten-
in architecture, sometimes called the
s,eve of the East" sometimes called "a
pearl surrounded by emerads," at one
time distinguished for swords Of the best
material known as Damascus blades, and
upholstery of richest fab 'ics called dam
asks. A horsemau by the name Of Saul,
riding toward the city, had been thrown
from the saddle. The horse had dropped
under flash ON the sky, which at the
same time was so bright it blind
ed the rider for many days,
and. / think, so permanently in
iured his eyesight that this defect
of vision became the thorn in the flesh
he afterwards speaks Of. he started for
Damascus to butcher Christians, but
after that hard fall from his horse he was
changed man and preached Christ in
Damascus till the city was shaken to its
foundation.
The mayor gives authority for his ar
rest, and the popular cry is: "Kill him!
kill himm
The city Is surrounded by high wall,
and the gates are watched by the police
lest the Ccillian preacher escape. Many
of the houses are built on the wall, and
their balconies projected clear over and
hovered above the gardens outsi lie. 1t
was customary to lower baskets out of
these balconies and pull pfrUits and How
crs from the gardens. To this day visitors
at the monastery of Mount Sinai are lifted
and let down in baskets. Detectives
prowled around from house to house look
ing for Paul, but his friends hid him,
now in one place. now in another. He is
no coward, as fifty Incidents in his life
demonstrate But he feels his work is
not done yet, and so he evades assassina-
tion.
''Is that preacher here!" the foamiug
mob shout at one house door. as that
fanatic herep the police shout at another
house door.
Sometimes on the street incognito he
passes through crowd Of clinched fists
ard sometimes he s3cretes himself on the
: 1use top. At last the infurilte1 popu-
lace get on sure track of him. They have
rositive evidence that he is in the house
- IF bo hric fro tho hulpODU nf
whose home reath3 over the wall.
"Here he is Here he Isl"
The vociferati)l, and blasphemy, and
bowling OF the pursuers are at the front
door. They break in.
Fetch out that Gospelzer and let US
hang his head on the city gate. Where Is
hes'
The emergency was terrible. Provi-
dentially there was Il good stout basket
in the house. Pau's friends fasten rope
70 the 5asket. Paul steps into it. The
basket is lifted t. thu ed ,e of the balcony
on the wall, and thcn, while Paul holds
on 10 the rope with both hands, his
friends lower away, carefully and eau
tiously, slowly Luz surely further down
and futhor down, until the basket strikes
the earth and the apostle steps out and,
af0ot and alone, starts on that famous
missionary tour, the story of which has
astonshed earth and Heaven. Appro-
pirate entry in PJurs diary Of travels:
Through window in a basket, was let
down by the wall.
Observe, first, on what q slend 3r tenure
great results hang. The ropemakcr who
fxxr rfof Tod hot oor1 foctnpnI IN tbnt loHvp -.
ting basket never knew how much would
depend upon the ST. ength Of it, How if
it had been broken and the apostles life
had been da; he'd QUIZ What would have
become Of the Christian Church9 All
that magnificent miss onary work in
Pamphllia, Cappa1ocia, Galatia, Mace
donia, would never have been accom-
plIshed. All his writings, that make up
so Indispensable and enchanting part of
the New Testament. The story of the
resurrection would never nave been so
gloriously told rs he told it. That example
OF heroic and triumphant endurance
at Philippi, in the Mediterranean Euro
clydon, under fl lgell alton and at his be-
heading, would not have kindled the cour-
aRe of 1000 martyrdoms. But that rope,
holding that basket, how much depended
on II So, again and again, greater re-
suits have hung on what seemed slender
circumstances
Did ever ship Of many thousand tons,
crossing the sea, have such an impor tant
passenger as had once boat of leaves;
from taffrail to stern only three or four
feet the vessel made waterproof by coat
OF bitumen, and floating on the Nile with
the infant law-giver Of the Jews on boardl
What if some crocodile should crunch itl
What if some Of the cattle wading in for
a drink should sink itl Vessels of war
sometimes carry forty guns, looking
through the portfolios, ready to open
Dattle. But that tiny craft on the Nile
seems to be armed with all the guns of
thunder that bombarded Sinai at the law
giving. On how fragile craft sailed,
how much of historical importancel
Inc parsonage at Epworth, E ngland, is
on IRE IN the night, and the father rushed
through the hallway for the rescue of his
cnldren. Seven children are out and safe
on the ground, but one remains In the
consuming building That one wakes,
ana finding his bed on fire and the build
lag crumbling, comes to the window, and
TWO peasants make ladder of their
bodies, one peasant standing on the
snCuiders of the other, and down the hu-
man ladder the boy descends-John Wes-
ley.
u you would know how uch depended
on the ladder Of peasants ask the millions
OF Methodlsts on both sides of the sca.
ASK their mission stations all round the